1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an encoded symbol reader used to decode encoded symbols such as two dimensional tessellated codes.
2. Background and Material Information
Recently, point-of-sale systems have employed encoded symbol readers in order to scan bar-code labels on products to increase the speed at which products can be processed through a check-out line of a store. However, bar-code labels store data in only one direction (i.e., the scanning direction) and therefore can only store a limited amount of data.
To overcome the problem of limited data storage, a new type of symbol which stores data in two directions has been proposed. This new type of symbol (hereinafter referred to as a two-dimensional symbol) uses a tessellated pattern to store the data.
The conventional encoded data symbol reader has a reading area which is scanned. The reading area is larger than the encoded symbol. When the encoded symbol reader is scanning the reading area, a region outside the perimeter of the encoded symbol reader is also read and processed. The processing of the data corresponding to the area outside the encoded symbol increases the time required to encode the encoded symbol thereby lowering the efficiency of the encoded symbol reader.